Net profit rose 14 percent to 21.7 billion yuan ($3.56 billion) in January-September, the Shanghai-listed lender said in a filing on Monday.

The profit report is likely to pique interest in China Everbright Bank Co Ltd's third attempt at listing in Hong Kong in as many years. Pre-marketing is likely to start later this week and a road show could commence next week, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Mainland initial public offering markets have been closed for more than a year, so Chinese lenders are turning to Hong Kong to bolster balance sheets as bad debts pick up while growth slows in the world's second-biggest economy.

But new offers have met with weak demand. Huishang Bank Corp Ltd and Bank of Chongqing - which together raised about $1.8 billion over the past two months - had disappointing debuts. Both stocks are trading below their IPO prices.

Bad loans at China's banks climbed 24.1 billion yuan to 563 billion yuan as at September-end, the steepest quarterly rise since the fourth quarter of 2005.

China Everbright's core capital adequacy ratio (CAR) - a measure of the strength of bank balance sheets - was 8.34 percent as of June 30, among the lowest compared with its peers. Proceeds from the listing would help boost the ratio.